Please take a moment and make a financial contribution to TheFunded. If we have helped you, help us with resources to further grow the both the site and our entrepreneur training program, The Founder Institute.

I spoke with Mike Maples Jr. over the phone about my company recently. Although it didn't seem like my company would be the kind of thing that they invest in, he took the time to talk with me about various aspects regarding my business model, finding funding etc... He even said if he came across someone who might be interested in my project he'd send them my way. He was even willing to talk about some of his past investments and his companies thoughts and concerns about investing in them.

I pitched Mike and Ann and had what seemed like a good meeting. Good questions; they resonated with some things and were concerned about others. Then they expressed fairly concrete interest - not "this is interesting", but "we are really interested and will get back to you within X hours."

Then: nothing. I followed up twice over three weeks, and no response.

I have no problem with them passing, and we went on to raise an awesome round. But please - a simple "No thanks" or "Give us more time" is infinitely better than no response.

Posted by
acidsting
on 2008-10-06

PUBLIC:

I met Mike when he lectured to one of my courses at Stanford, and his passion for helping entrepreneurs was readily apparent. Held an informal meeting with him about my embryonic startup, and even though we're in a space that he is not interested in investing in, he provided invaluable feedback. Unlike many of the boorish, arrogant, and sophomoric VC's I have encountered, Mike Maples is a class act, and is incredibly intelligent to boot. Anyone starting a consumer Web 2.0 company should consider Mike for seed funding.

Posted by
SleeplessInSeattle
on 2009-02-22

PUBLIC:

I first met Mike more than 10 years ago when he interviewed me for a job for Motive, a company he helped found in the late 90s in Austin, TX. He also struck me as a sharp guy and I was not surprised to see him show many years later as an investor.

I was impressed with the quality of companies he is involved with and after not really talking to him for 10 years I reached out and asked him for feedback on my start-up. We were looking to raise our Series B round (don't think Mike does B rounds), we're not in a geography where he invests (we're in Seattle), but he still agreed to meet with me.

He gave me great feedback on how to position the company and distill down our vision into something more succinct. I notice that founders can often have a hard time doing this; perhaps because we are so into the details on a daily basis. This makes it very hard to quickly communicate the "gist" of the company and the opportunity to prospective investors.

In addition to his many positive attributes, I have to say his strategic/competitive positioning skills are the best, by a wide margin, of anyone I've every come across. PERIOD.

If you are fortunate enough to have him interested in what you are doing, seriously consider it. I'd also take note of his incredible track record after only a short period of time. Very hard to ignore.

Note: He hasn't invested in my company. While I would consider us "friendly" we are certainly not friends.

While it is relatively early in the game, Mike has established himself as a top early stage VC with a very good track record of picking investments and helping get them to the next level. Beyond that, he's a really nice guy - the rare VC who can make you feel good about your idea and your company even if he passes, and can add a lot of value to your company if he decides to invest (he's also willing to go the extra mile to help you out if he passes).

He takes you seriously at your meeting (always on time, never checking email or using his computer during it), and his suggestions are the ones you leave the meeting thinking about how to implement in the future.

Mike has a clear idea on how he wants to invest and clearly explained to me what I would need to do to get his attention. He shared typical terms of his investments and they seemed very friendly towards the founders, especially at such an early stage. A polite decline, but stayed in touch with promised follow-up. Thanks Mike!

Posted by
RAGZ
on 2008-03-07

PUBLIC:

I emailed Mike and heard back from him immediately. After a brief email exchange over a week or so, he got back to me twice last night at 1:20 am. He's got too much going on to invest right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was because of this website, TheFunded.com and the publicity this community here gave him early on. He's acting like an entrepreneur, responding to folks here, and thats a good sign from a VC if you ever get investment from him. I'm impressed he is willing to spend the time monitoring his fund's publicity. Do you see other VC's here responding to all their comments" Nope.

I just think that this just revealed a flaw in this website. Better the VC, busier the VC. Busier the VC, less available time and funds. This shows how much this website has taken off.

Posted by
RyanTech8711
on 2011-06-01

PUBLIC:

I contacted Floodgate( specifically Mike Maples ) after I read up about him and saw a bunch of videos about his thoughts on the industry. I felt we are generally looking for the same thing, but I still had a ton of questions about what his firm is looking for.

I received my first email response within a few hours from I guess one of the other partners in the firm. The answers were brief, which I guess is okay, I was glad to at least here something back .. opposed to most VC's which simply ignore me which is kind of crappy.

In all honesty, I really apperciate the time they took to answer my questions. We may or may not be a fit for them .. but better to know ahead of the time.

Posted by
WMA
on 2008-03-31

PUBLIC:

I can only concur and attest with the positive comments posted about his attentiveness and candid remarks. I was referred to him by NEA. We emailed a couple times and held a couple of calls. While he was interested in our space and biz model, he had just invested and needed to attend to his investment! He suggested that we catch-up in a couple of months when we had some more traction. Unfortunately - a deal with a major partner got scuttled and were forced to move on.

Of my dealings with a number of angles he certainly gets the 2.0 space - a very big must if you are in it. So few angles do!

In recognition that entrepreneurs take a great deal of time to create the power points, executive summaries, applications, etc. to present to the various funds, it would be helpful to know some obvious limitations of each fund. We received a note from Mike Maples that he only works with companies in Silicon Valley, CA and Austin, TX. It would have been nice to know in advance and not waste valuable time.